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Illegal Beings: Human Clones
Homunculus
libfemme ( 02/16/2004, 03:36:05 )Before the modern microscope could see the chromosomes inside ova and sperm, some biologists believed that a microscopic, but completely formed individual was folded up inside the sperm, the "homunculus". From the 18th century until the beginning of the 20th the great debate between two schools of thought the Epigenesis (those who believed life began as an unformed mass) and the Preformationsts (those who believed that an individual already existed in microscsopic form and only "unfolded")The problem with Preformation was that meant only one parent could be the originator of the offspring. The little "offspring" resided either in the egg or in the sperm. The first Preformationists were Ovists, probably because the egg is large enough in some species to be seen. But when Nicolaas Hartsoeker discovered "animalcules" in the sperm of humans and other animals in 1694, some claimed that the sperm was in fact a "little man" (homunculus) that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child. The debate between Ovists and Spermists was essentially ended in the 1870's when modern staining techniques and better lenses, allowed scientists to see inside the egg and sperm nuclei and discovered chromosomes. From then on the Genetic theory of heredity took over.However, the Preformationists homunculus had a powerful impact on society for many centuries. If inside every sperm was a completely formed, and souled individual then masturbation was not only a sin but murder. This was an actual the topic of many sermons and a great social concern in the 17th and 18th centuries.It's tempting to see comparisons between preformationists and today's religious believe in the soul entering the embryo at the moment of fertilization. As soon as the sperm fuses with an ovium, in Catholic and fundamentalist teaching, a human being with a soul exists. When the birth control pill, which prevents ovulation not fertilization, became available in the early 60'ss the Catholic Church made it known that they were opposed to any form of birth control except abstainance. This is certainly consistent with an Ovist Preformation point of view.Opponents of cloning, bandied pictures of aborted fetuses not embryos during the UN debate over a cloning ban, despite the fact that cloning never involves fetuses, a late stage of development that does not medically begin until the 12th week. An embyo however begins as soon as the zygote makes it's first division. A two cell offspring can be called an embryo. An embryo is a ball of undifferentiated cells, impossible to distinguish from one species or another, let alone what "kingdom" it is in, animal, plant or protista.Pictures have a powerful emotive impact. Just as Anti-cloners publicize (erroneous)fetal pictures, Pro-cloners should be making as public as possible the picture of actual cloning, the undifferentiated cells. Let the public see exact "what" it is that is being so-called killled.Since a picture is worth a thousand words I give you a link below to a 18th century cartoon ridiculing the Spermists Preformationists by showing a homunculus.
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